Enterprise on Blu-Ray: First News Emerges

Just as news of the Star Trek: The Next Generation remastering project broke initially through a tweet from LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge), the first details of Star Trek: Enterprise‘s transition to Blu-Ray have emerged in a similar fashion.

Mike Sussman (long-term writer and producer on both Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise) revealed in a tweet on September 23 that another Star Trek series was destined for Blu-Ray:

Have it on good authority that another Trek series is making its Blu-Ray debut early next year…

In our exclusive interview with TNG Remastered’s David S. Grant (VP of Multimedia, CBS) and Ryan Adams (Director of Multimedia, CBS) I asked David and Ryan if the series mentioned by Mike Sussman could in fact be Enterprise. Their response was encouraging:

Ryan Adams: There are discussions happening as we speak. Discussions about other Star Trek entities, properties.

In a further tweet today, Mike Sussman confirmed these hopes, with some other very interesting information:

Trippin’ down memory lane: just wrapped up an interview for the @StarTrek Enterprise season 1 Blu-Ray set coming next year. #itsabouttime

Fans have long since hoped that a release of Star Trek: Enterprise on Blu-Ray would come sooner rather than later as that series was already filmed in native 1080p HD, and as such requires no remastering (unlike the series that preceded it). CBS would now appear to be already prepping the bonus features (or VAM, Value Added Material) for the release of Enterprise. In light of their incredible work on Star Trek: The Next Generation Remastered VAM, it’s highly likely that Robert Meyer Burnett and Roger Lay Jr. will lend their extensive talents to the Enterprise Season 1 VAM production.

One potential obstacle in putting Enterprise out on Blu-Ray is that all the special FX sequences were rendered at 720p resolution, lower than the native 1080p live-action sequences. As a result, CBS would appear to have two choices – either up-rez the 720p to full 1080p or re-render the CGI sequences in native 1080p. In the case of Enterprise, an up-rez isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Iconic shows such as Firefly and Battlestar Galactica have both used up-rezzed special effects in their Blu-Ray releases, and such a technique is often a creative choice to avoid the overly sharp VFX imagery which would result from a 1080p render. Doug Drexler (Senior Illustrator on Enterprise, but has also worked on Battlestar Galactica) sums it up nicely in an article he wrote some time back:

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about the fact that the CGI on BSG is rendered “only” at 720 and upscaled to 1080 for the final. Everyone should understand that render time was the LEAST important factor in this decision.

The fact is, at 1080, the CG just came out WAY too crisp. When intercut with the live action (or even composited), the CG popped off the screen and didn’t match the look and feel of the rest of the show. I’m sure all of you have had the experience of watching computer generated material on a flat panel or other high quality display and noticed just how razor-sharp it can look. It can often appear unnaturally crisp.

TrekCore will of course keep you up-to-date with all the developments of Star Trek: Enterprise‘s transition to Blu-Ray, so make sure you check back regularly for all the latest news!

actually the first 3 seasons were, but they were mastered at 1080p unlike the previous series. So in theory they could go back to the film at a later date for a 4K or 8K release. Season 4 on the other hand I’m fairly certain is locked to 1080p permanently.

archer923

You’re correct. Seasons 1-3 where shot on 35mm film. Which can be rescanned to 4K. 8K is mainly for 65-70mm film. But all the effects would really have to be re-rendered and the textures redone for 4k. S4 is permanently locked at 1080p. Just like Stargate SG1 S8-10, SGA, and SGU.

Connor

What do you mean by ‘permanently locked’; I’ve always assumed digital cameras were treated as film cameras such that they shot at higher rez than 1080p and in this case the digital files were stored just like film would be… film or digital they are just mastered at 1080p

archer923

No. Digital cameras are locked at their maximum recording resolution. Film cameras are locked too. They only go up to 8K (70mm/IMAX). You do anything else, it’s just up-scaling. Only the “Red One” HD camera films at 28K. Since ENT was a failure. They used cheaper digital HD cams on season 4. To save on costs. Everything was shot at 1080 max.

Connor

Oh, well that’s disappointing to hear. Especially sense most of the best episodes are in season 4. Thank You.

Ashley Williams

I wouldn’t worry about it though. I can’t imagine that most people will be able to own (size not cost) a TV big enough for 4K to make a difference let alone 8K. Right now they claim that most people don’t even have a TV big enough to justify 720p. However in my case a 37″ at the distance its at, I can see 1080p vs 720p. But I don’t think 4K would work at that size.

I can agree with that. About the “overly sharp 1080p CGI” issue, that is. I just watched “Iron Sky” (about Space Nazis from the Moon) and the space sequences just looked WAY too sharp….think the Avatar ship, but times 2. 720p should look OK, for a series that is already pushing 10 years old now.

David Erickson

Ya but why not render at 1080p then perform any post processing needed to reduce crispness. IMO that looks much better than upscaling artifacts and blocky pixels.

I would like to see what the upscale will look like. While I would prefer it to be native 1080p, at the same time it would require some work to fix and that would take time. Considering what they are already working on fixing the VFX might take 6 years, which I really don’t want to wait for if its “good enough” on the other hand if its just a matter of loading files and checking the 1080p box on a computer and hitting render……….well then do it. I’ll gladly pay for that.

archer923

It’s not that easy. I’ve dealt with this. When I’ve re-rendered some effects that were mastered in 480. Then changed it to 1080. I had to re-frame the camera position. Causing me to reanimate it some times. Also, the textures need to be checked on. You wouldn’t want to see pixelation when the ship flew by.

Esmeralda

TOS-R CGI are 1080p. And they look great.
I’ll be disappointed if they up-rez VFX for Enterprise on Blu-Ray.

TNG’s were also not CGI. Also, keep in mind that nobody has said anything about how Enterprises’s effects will be transferred into 1080p. This is all just speculation on TrekCore’s part.

Esmeralda

The point is that effects in TNG and TOS originally ara also not created with 1080p in mind. That is why they are remastered in full HD. Also some parts of TNG are CGI ( and CGI is big part of TNG-R. Planets are new CGI ).

archer923

There’s a difference with ENT to TNG. It failed. And won’t get TNG’s sales. That’s the question the company has to ask themselves. Is it worth the extra money. ASSUMING all the CGI files have been kept, to re-render and re-texture, or to release the available episodes now.

Ashley Williams

The real difference was UPN. UPN was killing anything and everything sci-fi related. Enterprise was the last and it was their highest rated show. but the new management didn’t want it because it didn’t fit with the rest of their trash. I know people that hated VGR that loved ENT. (I loved both)

archer923

Doesn’t matter. TNG at the end had 20 million viewers. ENT ended at 3 Million viewers. Far more potential customers. And easier to recover costs. Plus, the re-airing rights. How many places re-air ENT…

Ashley Williams

UPN was less accessible than just plain syndication. When enterprise aired, I couldn’t watch it. I had to have my sister record it on tape for me and then get the tapes twice a year. It sucked. I wonder how many other viewers were stuck like I was.

archer923

Bad argument. Voyager at the end had 8 million viewers. And ENT’s pilot had 12 million viewers. 9 million people didn’t just lose their reception.

MHB210

A lot of shows don’t get 20 million viewers anymore; the television landscape changed long before Enterprise first premiered. You also need to understand that a lot of Enterprise’s ratings trouble was related to UPN and the way television ratings were measured back then: UPN moved the show to the Friday Night Deathslot and most people chose to DVR the show – DVR numbers weren’t counted back then. Enterprise never dropped below the top 25 for most DVR subscriptions.

archer923

The upscale should look fine. Stargate Atlantis Season 1 effects where all finalized in SD. They look fine on the blu-ray set. I can personally tell it’s SD. Since I work with this material all the time. But regular viewers aren’t going to be annoyed.

Esmeralda

I am a regular viewer. And I would be annoyed.
If they will do Enterprise like that, I will not buy it on Blu-ray. Unfortunately.
When I buy a Blu-Ray I expect Full HD.

archer923

You almost can’t tell the difference from 720 to 1080. Atlantis barely is noticeable. And that’s 480 with 1080. Since the SD was done very well. Are you going to complain when 4k is the norm and ent season 4 is stuck at 1080 then? You can’t have everything perfect.

I disagree, get Netflix. I think a subscription to Netflix is almost justified by the entire library of Star Trek television alone. Some of the films come and go but you’ve got every episode of Trek available (and in Enterprise’s case it’s pretty good streaming HD). That’ll tide you over until the Blu-rays are available.

archer923

It’s not for me. I want to own my stuff. Not rent it.

Esmeralda

It looks fine on Netflix because it in 720p resolution there, not 1080p.